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y separately published work icon The Playmaker single work   novel   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 1987... 1987 The Playmaker
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Adaptations

y separately published work icon Our Country's Good Timberlake Wertenbaker , London : Methuen Royal Court Theatre , 1988 Z452849 1988 single work drama (taught in 4 units)

Notes

  • Dedication: To Arabanoo and his brethren, still dispossessed.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sydney, New South Wales,: Hodder and Stoughton ,
      1987 .
      image of person or book cover 8598516003275818409.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: x, 310p.p.
      ISBN: 0340341548
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Simon and Schuster ,
      1987 .
      image of person or book cover 3558035809812752784.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 353p.
      ISBN: 0671493434
    • Sevenoaks, Kent,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sceptre ,
      1988 .
      image of person or book cover 7772155779881262025.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 364p.
      ISBN: 0340422645
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Harper and Row ,
      1988 .
      image of person or book cover 2098563975121361379.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 349p.
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Touchstone [New York] ,
      1993 .
      image of person or book cover 134689609968931948.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 353p.
      ISBN: 0671885111
Alternative title: Attori per un giorno
Language: Italian
    • Milan,
      c
      Italy,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Frassinelli ,
      1988 .
      image of person or book cover 8809049302344628066.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: XIII, 314p.p.
      ISBN: 8876841148

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.

Works about this Work

A National (Diasporic?) Living Treasure : Thomas Keneally Paul Sharrad , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Le Simplegadi , November no. 14 2015; (p. 20-27)
Although Thomas Keneally is firmly located as a national figure, his international literary career and his novels’ inspection of colonial exile, Aboriginal alienation, and movements of people throughout history reflect aspects of diasporic experience, while pushing the term itself into wider meaning of the transnational.
Identity and Stigmatization Transferred Xiaojin Zhou , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: From Fixity to Fluidity : The Theme of Identity in Thomas Keneally's Fiction 2009; (p. 142-150)
'Keneally never forgets to weave his discussion of the Aboriginal issue into the Anglo search for identity in history, a problem which goes back as early as the beginning of white settlement of Australia. Convicts and the Admiralty soldiers, the earliest settlers on the land, come to Australian “stigmatized”. ' (142)
Keneally’s Aboriginal Characters Xiaojin Zhou , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: From Fixity to Fluidity : The Theme of Identity in Thomas Keneally's Fiction 2009; (p. 134-142)
'In the huge corpus of Keneally’s works, there is a group of impressive Aboriginal characters; some are minor ones and others are protagonists. In particular, three novels are noted for their outstanding and substantial portrayal of Aborigines, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith in 1972, The Playmaker in 1987, and Flying Hero Class in 1991. Interestingly, the three stories take place respectively in three important stages of Australian history, one in colonial times in 1789, one in 1901, and one shortly before the dawn of the new millennium. With his sustaining interest in this subject, Keneally tries to present a panoramic view of Aboriginal images with a historical vision. ' (134)
The Criminal Past in Present : Keneally's Portrayal of Colonial Society Xiaojin Zhou , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: From Fixity to Fluidity : The Theme of Identity in Thomas Keneally's Fiction 2009; (p. 95-105)

'For those who wrote about her before she was known to exist, Australia was in image a Utopia, a sort of Paradise However, the realities shattered this image. The First Fleet carried not pious and self-righteous Christians as Mayflower did, but perjurers, thieves, robbers, secret society members, and burglars – all “hangable material”(Keneally 1987b: 70). In other words, every corner of their present is marked with the crime of their past. '

95-96)

Reversed Nature, Dislocation, and Self-Commissioning Xiaojin Zhou , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: From Fixity to Fluidity : The Theme of Identity in Thomas Keneally's Fiction 2009; (p. 69-77)
'Different from the American Pilgrim Fathers, the early Europeans come to Australia without a dignified purpose. What’s worse, the Australian landscape defies their efforts to find a mission in local context. Everything here is different, alien and unaccountable, thwarting all attempts to subject it to European cognizance and interpretation. Even the most ardent scientist cannot find a proper mode of linguistic expression for the alien landscape, which leads to the disjunction between discourse and place. However, initial efforts are made by early settlers to find themselves a culturally and psychologically sustaining purpose. Self-commissioning takes such various forms as exploration, scientific studies and settlement, all of which are related, in a subtle but tenacious manner, to the British Empire and to their own past. Yet it is easy to put Australian on the map of the world, but it is difficult to subject the new world to the general scheme of the Empire. It simply refuses to be part of it. The wrestling with a troubled identity drives them to missionary activities in the land, which unfortunately further exacerbates the crisis rather than overcoming it, for in doing so, they forsake the sense of belonging “there”, only to find they can hardly belong “here”. ' (69-70)
A Dark Mirror of Australian Origins Helen Daniel , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 10 October 1987; (p. 13)

— Review of The Playmaker Thomas Keneally , 1987 single work novel
A Young Colony Treads the Boards Keith Russell , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Newcastle Herald , 28 November 1987; (p. 10)

— Review of The Playmaker Thomas Keneally , 1987 single work novel
Curtain Up on Our Beginnings Katharine England , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 17 October 1987; (p. 8)

— Review of The Playmaker Thomas Keneally , 1987 single work novel
Fashioning Dreams on Our New World's Stage Veronica Sen , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 10 October 1987; (p. B4)

— Review of The Playmaker Thomas Keneally , 1987 single work novel
Keneally at Our First Play Manning Clark , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10 October 1987; (p. 47)

— Review of The Playmaker Thomas Keneally , 1987 single work novel
Thomas Keneally : The Playmaker Di Morrissey (interviewer), 1987 single work column
— Appears in: The Mercury , 31 October 1987; (p. 18)
y separately published work icon Geschichte erzahlen: Untersuchungen zur Behandlung von Geschichte und nationaler Identitat in australischer Gegenwartsliteratur Henrike Wenzel , Munster : Lit Verlag , 2003 Z1172475 2003 single work criticism
Australia Now and Then Peter Fuller , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 October 1987; (p. B1)
Foreword : Brian has the Word Elizabeth Swanson , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 17-18 October 1987; (p. 15)
Keneally Juggles with the Pieces of the World Jigsaw Candida Baker , 1987 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Age , 17 October 1987; (p. 9)
Last amended 3 Nov 2021 16:19:42
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